Venezuela has always been one of the best-represented countries in the U.S. Major Leagues. This year, Venezuela stood out for sending even more professional baseball players into MLB at a time when the number of foreign-born players declined overall. Now, the Venezuelans are breaking records.
Making headlines this week for their never-before-seen feats were Francisco Rodriguez (“The Kid,” or “K-Rod”) of the L.A. Angels and Carlos Zambrano (“El Toro,” above) of the Chicago Cubs.
Last Saturday, Rodriguez stunned fans by saving a record number of 58 games for his team to defeat the old record set by Bobby Thigpen nearly two decades ago. Then, on Sunday, Carlos Zambrano pitched a lockout game in which the other side achieved no hits or runs. Watch a video montage of Zambrano’s “no run no hit” game set to triumphant rock music from the Caracas newspaper, El Universal.
Read more about Francisco Rodriguez and Carlos Zambrano, go to MLB.com. For articles in Spanish, click here and here.
